Void Rivals #31 dials back the greater story this month to allow Skuxxoid to take center stage as he battles Skuxxoid for the fate of the Skuxxoids. If you were hoping for an issue where Solila and Darak lick their wounds… well, you’re getting pretty much the exact opposite of that. But it’s not without its moments – it’s an interlude issue, sure, but it’s an oddly powerful one about letting go and making sure you don’t become an old bitter version of yourself.
The Skuxxoid we’ve been following since the series began in 2023 has assembled an army large enough to challenge Skuxxoid Alpha and bring about meaningful regime change where every Skuxx (I’m going to call them that, because we’re friends and I can get away with it) is treated as an equal and the hierarchy is completely upended. Just when you least expected it, Void Rivals got pretty deep.
Image/Skybound
This issue is basically 18 pages of fighting interspersed with platitudes for authoritarianism and a rebuke of it from the two main Skuxx-boys. It’s a pretty light script brought to beautiful life by Connor Hughes and Patricio Delpeche. There are three two-page spreads that really punctuate the scale of the battle being fought for the hearts and minds of, what Skuxxoid Alpha would call, the heartless and mindless. Often drawn at Dutch angles, the tension starts high and continues through pretty intense combat between the rival Skuxx factions.
Is this a metaphor for authoritarianism? Maybe. Is it a metaphor for old conservatives standing in the way of younger progressives? That feels more likely as about halfway through the battle of the two clashing armies, Skuxxoid Alpha accepts what’s essentially a trial-by-combat duel with our Skuxx and some pointed words were shared on why the other’s worldview was the completely wrong direction for all Skuxx’s take. It was refreshingly deep for Void Rivals to dip its toes into these ideas after the previous arc.
Image/Skybound
So we have one Skuxx representing the idea of freedom for all Skuxx’s going head to head against the Skuxxoid Alpha who thinks he’s the only way forward for every Skuxx around. The two beat the ever-living piss out of each other while making their views of the universe, and the Skuxx’s place in it clear. Just when I thought I was getting another meathead brawling issue, there’s a moment exchanged between the two that centers everything on an emotional beat that I wasn’t expecting.
This wasn’t the Quintesson War, a six part story that I didn’t think deserved that many pages. It was short, it was dangerous, it was meaningful, and it was surprisingly sweet without being saccharine, which it very easily could’ve been. I felt Kirkman showed a lot of restraint in his script with what could’ve been a silly issue – Skuxxoid was such a non-character in the original Transformers cartoon but was blown up to pretty high esteem here in all of his incarnations. The wheels of revolution turn everywhere, even in Skuxxoid space.
Image/Skybound
I didn’t even miss Solila and Darak, whose entire worlds have changed because of the end of the Quintesson War. I didn’t miss seeing any Energon or hints of M.A.S.K., or the Joes, or the refugee-warriors from Cobra-La, or Optimus or whatever. This is the closest thing to a self-contained issue I feel like we could get from the Energon Universe that didn’t reference a bunch of other books – other books I care about and enjoy – but there was something oddly refreshing about its singular focus.
I didn’t think I would get as emotional or fired up reading an issue of Void Rivals that focused squarely on Skuxxoid, but here we are. Void Rivals #31 delivered a really serious story about revolution, freedom, authoritarianism, the problems with old leadership, the fire of young progressives, and it did all that while being an entertaining brawl between identical looking characters you could somehow easily tell apart.
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